Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I prepared this blog in April 2009 as a follow-up reference for the 7th CTJ Seminar. Well, things didn't turn out as I expected and unfortunately I wasn't able to present at the seminar. Nevertheless, I'd like to share this list of webtools I had assembled. I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful learning time. The Casa Thomas Jefferson Seminar is one of the best for EFL teachers in Brazil. You can check the program below.

sts could plan an imaginary trip and send a card telling other classmates about it.

using one of the TV designs, sts can pretend they are anchormen and report imaginary news.

Some characteristics you have to be aware of: a Bubblejoy card is sent to e-mails and can only be viewed 50 times. The message has a limit of 60 seconds. It cannot be embedded in blogs. It´s free and needs no account.

Skills: speaking, listening (if you ask sts to write their message first you can maximize the skills)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

With Utterli you can create a discussion which people can reply to using text, video, pictures or/and audio. It´s very simple to use and it´s really interesting to hear and see what people have to say. You can get a widget for the sidebar of your website so that you and your readers can follow what people have been saying there.

As you can also record it from your cell phone, it´s very practical and offers great opportunity for authentic language practice.

How to use it with students?

create threads where students can write about topics you start like: describe your best friend (add picture), talk about your favourite food/dish (+ picture), describe your family (+picture), share your favourite song and so on.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Tokbox is a free video chat and video mail service. It´s similar to skype in the sense that you can have video chats with your friends and also have conferences but it offers more: you can send video messages to friends via e-mail. There´s no need to download anything as all the messages are stored online.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Mixbook is another tool which looks like an online book. You can also ask students to create their own books using target language or use one book to present a class project, with poems for example. The interesting thing about mixbook is that you can order a printed copy of your book. It must look amazing!

This project was developed by a colleague of mine, Lívia Fernandes, where students were invited to write about their moms for mother´s day. The teacher then scanned their work and assembled them into a poster with images.http://livinhaz.glogster.com/mothersday-pt1a/

WithBookr students can create online books to tell their stories. It´s a very easy tool. You can use pictures from your flickr account or choose pictures from the archive. Once the book is ready, students save it and send the link to the teacher. By clicking on BLOG THIS, you can get the embed code to publish them in any website.

This project was proposed by a colleague of mine, Polyana Vida, where teenager students created online books to describe themselves. The title is "WHAT´S MY TRIBE?"

Sunday, April 12, 2009

With voicethread, you can create a presentation with images, audio and even the movement of your mouse where your audience can interact by leaving written or audio comments.

This is a project developed by various teachers in the world where students made a presentation about their country or the place they live in.Here, students from Uberlandia, Brazil, talk about our country.

One of the easiest tools to use. With slide.com you can make presentations like a slideshow where you can upload pictures, create captions, add background music and select various presentation effects.

Students can use it to talk about their latest holiday, talk about a person they admire, describe a place, tell a story...

This is an example created by a student talking about one of his favourite holidays.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Join our online course and learn how to integrate new technology into your classes. Don't be afraid to try, this course is for beginners and we'll give you full support. Send me an e-mail and I'll send you all the information.